jtisch

In the not too distant future,I will be facing the task of painting roughly a million little swirls on my Albatros,see below.

I was thinking of trying a Tamiya paint marker (looks like a felt tip marker except it has paint instead of ink).Although I am color blind the "flat flesh" color Tamiya has looks pretty close the "matte pale stone" called for.Has anyone tried these using pen/markers on an airplane before?Also,it says there are "polycarbonate paint",I wonder what type of base that is (enamel?).I plan to use rustoleum or krylon for the base red color so I am wondering about compatibility issues.Any thoughts or sharing of experiences would be welcome.It sure would be nice not to have to dip a paint brush in the paint jar a million times.

Thanks!

TFF

Who could complain about lozenge after seeing that paint job!
I doubt there will be any compatibility problems. I have not used one on a plane, but I will say it is paint not ink in those pens. I dont know if it will last under glow fuel though.

abufletcher

That's one hell of a scheme! I think I remember reading that the "swirl" pattern was applied with a sponge or something like that. That is, they really were swirls of paint. Seems like you'd be best off doing something similar.

abufletcher

BTW, apparently the OEF produced DIIIs had operational problems with the spinners (they flew off in flight) so they were removed as in your profile.

Here's a digital illustration of the pattern I found online at the following site:

http://forum.combatace.com/index.php...showfile=5525#

In this illustration it certainly looks like two color printed fabric. But I seem to recall reading the OEF Albatros datafile that the swirls were hand-applied (perhaps with a rag).

jtisch

I will be using a gas four-stroke engine,so no glow fuel worries.I will still probably do a clear coat though.

The funky looking sworl pattern abufletcher shows in his post shows up on some of the later 253 series machines and is indeed a printed fabric,like the German lozenge fabric.The earlier ones sometimes had swirls or blotches painted on. In the photos I have, some look like they were applied with a rag or sponge with no "hard" edge but others definitely look like they were added by brush.

I found some suppliers online so I guess I should order some and drag out my "paint testing" wing panels from an abandoned project and see how it works.I was kind of worried that these paint markers weren't available here in the US as I have never seen them here.I also found other brands of paint markers online but never in the right color.

abufletcher

I tried on of these paint markers when I was looking for ways to do the markings on my Snipe. I have to say I wasn't impressed. The paint didn't flow evenly out of the one I bought. I also the white I used didn't coat in one coat and it would be almost impossible to go over this s sworl pattern with a second coat.

So on the aircraft you're modelin, do you think this was the printed fabric or the eariler hand-done version. I'd gues it was the smaller hand-painted sworls.

JohnF

J, I have some made by Marvy, Uchida of America, corp. they are called DecoColor.

abufletcher

I found this site about a plastic model build of this aircraft. This modeler interpreted the yellow on red sworls (not "swirls" as in my earlier post) as more irregular and hand-painted.

http://wwi-cookup.com/albatros/diii_...d_diii_ca.html

jtisch

This plane definitely had the hand painted curlicues.I went through my various documents and the color for the curlicues/swirls/sworls range from the matt pale stone to mustard yellow to orange-yellow.Mustard yellow comes from a source I would consider to be the most reliable.That poses a problem,though, as I doubt I would be able to find a paint marker in mustard yellow(besides,is it a yellow like american mustard or a brown like "Grey Poupon"?I think I might be able to live with the flesh color.
As for the paint not coming out evenly all the time,that might be a good thing as it looks like they weren't added with the utmost of care.Thanks for the leads!

jtisch

"After further review",the color I want is Meuthen 3B6 or FS(1or 2 or 3)3618.It does kind of look like Grey Poupon!I found a Copic pen marker in mustard,I may try one just to check it out.Otherwise I'll mix it myself and do it with a brush.Anyone want to come over to my place for a curlicue painting party?